Perhaps, IBM does not exactly want to produce chips in volume, however, the company is still interested in research and development of new materials and process technologies. The company reaffirmed its interest in chip R&D by letting Michael J. Cadigan, general manager of IBM microelectronics business unit to become chairman of the SOI Industry Consortium.

The SOI Industry Consortium, a not-for-profit organization aimed at accelerating innovation and adoption of energy-efficient silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology, on Thursday announced new additions to its board of directors: Michael J. Cadigan, general manager of IBM Microelectronics systems and technology group, as the new board chairman; Simon Segars, executive vice president and general manager of physical IP division at ARM ; and Laurent Malier, chief executive officer of CEA-Leti, as its new treasurer. André-Jacques Auberton-Hervé, chief executive officer of Soitec, continues to serve the SOI Industry Consortium as chairman emeritus.

“We are extremely pleased to have Mike, Simon and Laurent join us to help shape the future of our organization and our collaborative efforts to promote and develop SOI’s low power capabilities. We would like to thank our outgoing chair, André-Jacques Auberton-Hervé for his outstanding leadership in the development of the consortium. Thanks also to Tom Lantsch, from ARM, who has served us well as treasurer of the board, and to Mark Ireland for his outstanding support representing IBM on our board for the past three years,” said Horacio Mendez, executive director of the SOI Industry Consortium.

The new appointments clearly indicate that ARM and IBM are truly interested in advancing SOI manufacturing technology, which may mean that the former is interested in adding performance to its processor technologies while maintaining their low power consumption thanks to SOI, whereas the latter may be very interested in continuing researching various process technologies to make semiconductors. In any case, both nominations underline the importance of SOI in general.

Current members of the SOI Industry Consortium board of directors are: